American West Paintings Are Inspiring New Artists and Causing an Auction Boom

Originally published in the October 2015 issue of Robb Report Collection as “A Boundless Frontier”

Powerful images of the American West are inspiring contemporary artists and a booming collector market.

In 2006, the artist Z.S. Liang learned of a mid-19th-century battle between two Native American tribes, a confrontation that began with a faux pas that devolved into a fight. The northerly Kootenai tribe snuck onto the neighboring Blackfoot tribe’s hunting grounds without permission, believing the Bl…